UNC Postgame Thread

[HuskyNan]

KK needs to penetrate and not walk the ball up. She played us much too slow. Ten points from KK and it's a blowout.

Twenty one points is a blowout

 

[cleobel60]

Not to be a smarty pants, but could Ash need eyeglasses? She had good looks and ihas been a pretty good shooter not only from 3 but 2's also. When she has open looks, she should shoot it unless somebody has an easier or better opportunity. She's a very important player. I'd encourage her to keep shooting. Never know when those points will be really needed.

Not to be a smarty pants, but could Ash need eyeglasses? She had good looks and ihas been a pretty good shooter not only from 3 but 2's also. When she has open looks, she should shoot it unless somebody has an easier or better opportunity. She's a very important player. I'd encourage her to keep shooting. Never know when those points will be really needed.

My friend, who just won a Texas High school girls state championship, told me while watching the game that UCONN needs to start Blanca Q in place of Serah Williams who contributes poorly. She said the offense would be more productive, and that rebounding would also be better. She also suggested using K9 more . In my opinion Ash seems to be aiming the ball when shooting rather than natural motion.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Many on the BY thought it was fine that Sarah played limited minutes in all those blowouts to protect her from injury and keep her well rested. Perhaps if she had played more minutes it would have helped to build up her stamina. Hope it doesn’t become more of an issue in the stretch run to the National Championship.

This has been a concern of mine all year for Azzi, Q and Ash too.

 

[RoadWarrior]

A lot has been posted about the poor shooting by the guards, but typically our guards play good defense even when their shots are not falling. In my opinion, Ash got bullied and abused by Nivar on the defensive end. While the squad plays excellent team defense, I think that bigger guards may prove problematic should we prevail against ND as we all anticipate.

 

[cleobel60]

Twenty one points is a blowout

KK needs to just improve her shooting period. Ten points from her would have helped take some of the pressure off of Azzi/Sarah who were being doubled teamed often because NC had no fear that guards would score. Stop Azzi and Sarah could be a recipe for a lost. Free throws. Still missing and layups too

 

[Bills Fan]

Was it just me, or did it seem like there were a lot of empty seats in the arena? I thought that high attendance was supposed to be another motivation for having only two regional sites.

You are so right. I agree with Geno in that you need regionals that are actually REGIONAL and schools' fans could get to without going 1000+ miles. Let's assume that the NE Regional was in Philly or DC. How many more fans would have made the trip(by car) than passed up on taking flights to DFW. Same with a SE Regional in Atlanta or maybe Birmingham; SW in Phoenix or Las Vegas and NW in Denver or Boise or SLC. All of those locations have plenty of hotel rooms , restaurants, attractions and would give the Selection Committee the chance to get rid of the out of date "Conference rules" that are no longer feasible or justified in this new age of super-sized conferences.

Just give me the 64/68 teams and I would be glad to produce 4 REGIONALS that make sense, would cut travel and increase attendance

 

[packwrap]

We are moving on. Good game for coaching purposes to get everyone focused.

UNC had a good game plan. Slow it down, clog up the motion and handoffs, go dribble drive on offense.

UConn defense was too much for them though.

Still a methodical 20 point win for the Huskies.

Always fun to face Notre Dame!

 

[Skeets]

UConn got 30 minutes on the court at 5:30 am. These double regionals are great for ESPN; disaster for the players.

Jamming all those teams into just 2 venues (instead of 4 "regionals") is just plain stupid. IIRC this starting because of COVID to keep the players in a bubble. Do we still need a bubble? Of course not.

The term "regional" doesn't even make sense any more.

 

[1974yankees]

KK and Ash are what they are at this point. They are basically seniors. Next season is going to be the Sarah and Blanca show, but they need to find a third star that can put the ball in the hoop reliably many times per game.

Blanca is that third star already. I wanted her to start from the very first time I saw her.

You have to put your best players on the court always. Especially now.

But there is no way Geno is going to take my advice lol.

 

[Centerstream]

Sarah was 0 for 5 from 3, Ashlynn 0 for 7, Allie and Kayleigh 0 for 1 each, KK 0 for 0. If we had just 1 from each, big MOV difference to satisfy some BYers. But it is an if.
However, I certainly don't envision Sarah going 0fer again and hopefully none of the others.
Azzi and Blanca were 2 for 3. Good for them.

 

[Fastbreak]

 

[HuskyNan]

Many on the BY thought it was fine that Sarah played limited minutes in all those blowouts to protect her from injury and keep her well rested. Perhaps if she had played more minutes it would have helped to build up her stamina. Hope it doesn’t become more of an issue in the stretch run to the National Championship.

 

[nickp91]

UConn vs Notre Dame is going to be MUST SEE TV on ABC

 

[Skeets]

When we start out shooting poorly in ANY game the chat room is unbearable. Heaven forbid we look human. I had to just step away and watch the game. That worked out well for my mental health. As many have said, "Survive and advance".

Over the years I've only gone into the chat room once or twice. I don't need a group of morons trash talking how poorly certain players are playing. I'd rather watch the game, not the chat room.

 

[Bone Dog]

In defense of Serah, she played like a freshman, with little confidence in her shot, some fumbled rebounds, but also some good blocks.

But wait... she is effectively a freshman, at least in regard to the tournament. She's never been here before. The pressure of this game was all new to her, and it showed.

Not to worry though. I have a feeling that in the next game she'll recover her sang froid. Why? Because she's played against ND before, because the pressure won't be so new to her, because we're likely to have more transition opportunities, and she does well in a running game.

 

[BrianUC]

Serah WIlliams had a better game than many are saying, with 8 reb and 3 blk with no TO in 13 minutes.

Ashlynn Shade - she does a lot of the little things but her FG% for the season is ten points below everyone else. Before garbage time she was 0 for 8. We cannot afford days like that against the top tier. I feel like she might want to pass up the open shot and look for her teammates a bit more. If she's defending and the opponent is beating her to the basket, I'd like to see others on the bench have more minutes.

 

[cleobel60]

For a team ranked around 15th, I'd say UNC has an average offense and a slightly above average defense. In that context, UConn played 3½ quarters of very good defense and one quarter of very good offense (Q3).

Ash gets more minutes than Blanca?! I dissent. UConn needs scoring to complement and augment its defense against top teams. In the first three games of the tourney, Blanca is averaging 16.3 ppg on 20-31 (65%) and 5-11 (45%), with nine steals. Play her more.

I AGREE.

 

[Skeets]

Not to be a smarty pants, but could Ash need eyeglasses? She had good looks and ihas been a pretty good shooter not only from 3 but 2's also. When she has open looks, she should shoot it unless somebody has an easier or better opportunity. She's a very important player. I'd encourage her to keep shooting. Never know when those points will be really needed.

I'm guess it's not her eyes. Depth perception in large arenas can be a big factor with long range shooters. Depth perception might not be the right phrase. It's the depth of the back ground beyond the basket. I don't think any of our long-range shooters had a good night. As far as tight rims are concerned, not an issue if you get nothing but net.

 

[Jonathan14]

You are so right. I agree with Geno in that you need regionals that are actually REGIONAL and schools' fans could get to without going 1000+ miles. …
Just give me the 64/68 teams and I would be glad to produce 4 REGIONALS that make sense, would cut travel and increase attendance

Well, you could probably start by throwing four darts at a map while blindfolded and do better than what we've got this year. 😉 I may be off slightly because I was eyeballing it on a map, but by my count, 52 of the 68 teams in the tournament are located east of Fort Worth (44 are located east of the Mississippi River). Yet, the NCAA placed the two regionals and the Final Four in the western half of the country (in Fort Worth, Sacramento, and Phoenix), thousands of miles away from the vast majority of tournament schools and their fans. I'd love to hear a justification that actually takes the athletes and the fans into account.

 

[Bills Fan]

Courtney Banghart, Indya Nivar, Nyla Harris:

Coach Banghart's comments were as impressive as any opponent' s remarks after a loss to the Huskies. She threw plenty of flowers at our team will still not down playing her team. Also, her comments about Sarah and Sarah's family were heartfelt as she proclaimed herself to be a leader of the SS fan club.

 

[fomalhaut]

So the "formula for a UConn loss" is for the opponent to hope that UConn has a terrible shooting performance??

I agree: it takes more than that, because Connecticut's defense will keep them in every game. In order to beat them, you also have to rebound, make your own shots against the best defense in the country, and keep your turnovers down against the best defense in the country. They did end their streak of 70-point performances, though.

 

[freshler40]

Not to be a smarty pants, but could Ash need eyeglasses? She had good looks and ihas been a pretty good shooter not only from 3 but 2's also. When she has open looks, she should shoot it unless somebody has an easier or better opportunity. She's a very important player. I'd encourage her to keep shooting. Never know when those points will be really needed.

Ash undershoots the rim generally, not enough lift but online. Hoping for 10 points from her most games.

 

[H Dog]

Blanca was key in this game. I thought Sarah and Blanca played the best. Tonight was not Shade's night. KK when she's not aggressive offensively it's 4 on 5 and that's what we saw. Really need our guards to play better to relieve some pressure of Azzi. Overall it was just not a great game from the eye test. I think they will be ready on Sunday, so lets just win and advance.

Excuse me but your criticism of KK is unwarranted and your analysis is erroneous. I agree that Blanca and SS had very good games and carried us offensively but to say that we were playing 4 on 5 due to KK and that “our guards” have to play better to take pressure off Azzi is ridiculous. Azzi (who’s the best SG in the country) is the guard who plays the most minutes on the team and had an off night shooting, Ash plays the 2nd most minutes and is a guard and had a bad game compared to her usual high standards. Meanwhile if you were watching KK she made great passes and handled the ball well but her usually reliable shooters were just missing shots that they usually make so her assist totals were down but she was still relentless and incredibly effective on defense, NC only had 30 points through 3 quarters!!! My point is that she did her job as usual and maybe had to slow it down a bit because circumstances so dictated, but to say it was 4 on 5 due to her is egregiously wrong. So what supposed guards are supposed to be playing better to take the pressure off of Azzi,who actually thrives under pressure? We beat a 4 seed decisively despite a sub par offensive performance, let’s just leave it at that rather than unfairly and mistakenly assign blame for no reason.

 

[hoophuskee]

KK needs to just improve her shooting period. Ten points from her would have helped take some of the pressure off of Azzi/Sarah who were being doubled teamed often because NC had no fear that guards would score. Stop Azzi and Sarah could be a recipe for a lost. Free throws. Still missing and layups too

That's it! I knew Pat Riley blew it as the Knicks coach vs the Bulls. All he had to do was stop Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

If memory serves, she asked 5 times!

 

[Mike72fl]

I thought Geno did a smart thing in the 3rd Q by putting K9 and Allie in for KK and Ash. Although they didn’t shoot much, they kept UNC’s defense honest and had to guard them (and didn’t double-team Sarah and Azzi as much) because they are shooters. It opened up the game offensively for Uconn.

 

[VA Huskie]

All in all, I was never concerned about this one but continued the lack of production from the non-stars against quality opponents remains worrisome for later on down the line. Hopefully a familiar opponent next game brings back some comfort for the likes of KK and Ash.

I thought our “non starter” named Blanca was pretty damn good!

 

[Linart]

I just rewatched the Sweet 16 vs Oklahoma from last year. In many ways it was similar to what we went through today. We were actually behind at the half by 4 but ended up winning by 23. Interestingly, the arena in Spokane looked like it was almost full as opposed to the half-empty one in Fort Worth.

 

[ec33]

KK and Ash are what they are at this point. They are basically seniors. Next season is going to be the Sarah and Blanca show, but they need to find a third star that can put the ball in the hoop reliably many times per game.

We saw it in the Big East Tournament (and against ND), KK has the ability to reach another level and be a dominant force in a game.

Ash is more than capable of contributing her usual numbers against a higher level of opponent. She missed a lot of wide open shots that need to be knocked down at some kind of rate (or Geno needs to find someone who will).

 

[ec33]

I thought our “non starter” named Blanca was pretty damn good!

It was "non-stars" I would consider her a "star" at this point (or at least "star adjacent").

UConn needs larger offensive contribution for the "role players." They are too reliant of Sarah and Azzi plus what Blanca can find a way to contribute on her own.